SkillsTech

TAFE Queensland SkillsTech is the largest public provider of trade and technician training in Australia in the Automotive, Building and Construction, Electrical and Electronics, Process Control and Instrumentation, Manufacturing, Engineering, Telecoms, CSG/LNG, HDPE and sustainable technologies industries. RTO No. 0275 CRICOS No. 03020E

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Thursday, 27 November 2014

Jobs for the next 5 years

A quick
look in the job section in the Saturday papers will reveal that every employer
seeking electrician to work in heavy industry has a preference for a Certificate
III in instrumentation. Just this week two major companies one in Queensland
and one in the Northern Territory are calling for these dual traded people.

According
to various statistics there are over 20,000 electrical personnel working within
Queensland. The statistics also indicate that the state will need an additional
15,000 more within the next five years.

If this is
the case then it seems imperative that current electrical people working in
construction and other aligned industrial employment should be up skilled in
emerging industries.

Instrumentation
was always a niche trade. Having been trained in 1979 and maintained industry currency
ever since, I have seen an increasing need for people working in the electrical
industry to understand the complexity and automation of instrumentation. Why?
Because more and more equipment is becoming an Ethernet reporting device,
offering more diagnostics and more control over processes than ever before.
Building management systems, automation, gas and oil refineries’ all support
the use instrumentation and process control in their plants. I have also
noticed a huge increase in instrumentation in appliances in homes, mining
industries and water a sewage
works.The high product quality environmental
requirements and impacts on our society, and the need to ensure we minimise
energy usage in our homes and industries.

Instrumentation
is a trade in its own right and with it comes the knowledge of pressure, flow,
level, density, temperature scientific analysis, automation, and digital
technologies involving PLC, SCADA and Distributed Control Systems (DCS), which
is not taught in any other trade to
the depth required to fault find and maintain these modern control systems.

On another
note I have also seen an increase on solar and security technologies especially
in the new eco-smart buildings, gas plant and water works being built.All GTP (Gas Transmission Pipeline) MLV’s
(Main Line Valves) have solar panels arrays and huge deep cycle battery backup.These areas will be growth areas and a person
having knowledge in these areas along with instrumentation will be in high
demand in the years to come.

Another
area which fits in with this new technology being used throughout Australia is
data and telecommunications. In recent years I have seen a very definite cross
pollination between instrumentation data and telecommunication, security
technologies and automation.

The final
area which instrumentation has a another role is the electronic areas.
Component repair may be in decline but there are some areas of electronics
which will be a growth area years to come: Medical electronics

SkillsTech
Australia has been gearing up for this technology advancement since 2006. The
instrumentation telecommunications security technologies and renewable energies
were all part so other institutes prior to SkillsTech being formed. For example
the current instrumentation, electronics and telecommunication sections resided
at Southbank TAFE since 1980, and although some teacher have since retired the
section have never stopped developing these new course to keep up with emerging
technologies

People can
no longer hope that the construction, manufacturing and mining will have a
steady state as seen in the last couple of years. Constantly cycling these
industries will continually have peaks and troughs. So I
believe that people will need to constantly upgrade their skills. SkillsTech
Australia has identified this with many unique niche course to aid people
maintaining steady work